Hex Heroes developers on possibility of Nintendo Switch port
Posted on October 22, 2016 by Zack in Switch, Wii U eShop
The developers of Hex Heroes, which is still currently slated to be released for the Wii U, have commented on the Nintendo Switch and the possibility of Hex Heroes appearing on it.
While initially expected for release in 2015, Hex Heroes is still under development after its successful 2014 Kickstarter campaign. The game utilizes the gamepad and 5-player potential of the Wii U heavily, and as such porting it to other systems would be a tricky scenario. It seems that the developers of the game are hopeful at the prospects of a Switch port though, as in the most recent backer update they go over the details of what a Switch port of Hex Heroes would look like, how the controls would work and ask for backers input on whether they’d like to see a Switch port of the game if possible.
Based on the trailer, it doesn’t appear that one Switch can perfectly mimic the Wii U’s ability to display different visuals on the TV vs. the gamepad. Two Switches, on the other hand, could. One Switch for the commander, and one switch docked to the TV for four player split screen. This makes an assumption about the Switch being able to support up to four players, though – the trailer has only shown up to two (granted, they were on the portable screen, not the TV). At best, two Switches can offer the Wii U experience, and at worst, three Switches will be needed (for 5 players). Again, time will tell.
It’s worth noting that Hex Heroes is being built for ALL control schemes on the Wii U. We don’t want to bar players from joining in the fun just because they only have Wii remotes. This early decision will serve us well, if we can make the move to Switch, given that each mini-controller has roughly the same amount of buttons.
One troublesome factor for the developers would be network programming, which can be very time consuming.
There is one big, gigantic elephant in the room though: network programming. While the trailer makes it look like the Switch can pair with other Switches locally really easily, we have no idea how difficult/time consuming it would be to implement that kind of connectivity. It’s said in the biz that adding networking to a game (in the online sense) automatically adds a year to development (which is why we’re not promising that). We can just hope that the support is there. Who knows, maybe setting up local networking will be as easy as mapping controls. Maybe it’ll be identical to how the 3DS handles local connectivity and so there’s lots of documentation on making it work. We won’t know until, again, we get our feet wet with the system.
You can read the full backer update here.
